The invention relates to an internal combustion engine including a gas pressure container assigned in communication with the cylinders for supplying compressed combustion air to the container and to a method for operating such an internal combustion engine.
Document DE 101 44 471 A1 discloses a multi-cylinder reciprocating-piston internal combustion engine which has a tubular pressure container (brake rail) which is connected by way of, in each case, one brake valve to each cylinder of the internal combustion engine. In the braking mode of the internal combustion engine, the brake valves are opened and closed multiple times per working cycle, so that highly-compressed air passes from the cylinder into the pressure container, and braking power is generated. After the closure of the intake valve at the cylinder, the respective brake valve is briefly opened again, so that the compressed combustion air flows back out of the pressure container into the combustion chamber of the cylinder, and, as a result, the piston in the cylinder must exert compression work against the compressed air. This further increases the braking power of the engine.
The gas pressure container is also connected to the exhaust strand of the internal combustion engine by means of an outflow line having an adjustable outflow valve arranged therein, so that, when the outflow valve is opened, the gas content can flow out of the gas pressure container into the exhaust strand. Impermissibly high pressures are avoided in this way.
It is the object of the present invention to create, using simple measures, additional possibilities for use of an internal combustion engine whose cylinders are connected by means of, in each case, one adjustable brake valve to a common gas pressure container.